


i set my clocks early 'cause i know i'm always late

by etselec



Series: emo vegetarian vampire pete [3]
Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Concerts, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Prequel, Snow, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 14:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4395098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etselec/pseuds/etselec
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pete was never a romantic until he met Mikey Way. </p>
<p>Love just didn’t exist and all Pete knew were messy hookups in the back of clubs and one night stands where one of them would be gone the next morning.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and there’s that vampire thing that kind of made relationships difficult.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>(a prequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3874957">this</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	i set my clocks early 'cause i know i'm always late

**Author's Note:**

> someone wanted fluff in this verse so naturally i wrote a prequel haha

Pete was never a romantic until he met Mikey Way.

Love just didn’t _exist_ and all Pete knew were messy hookups in the back of clubs and one night stands where one of them would be gone the next morning.

Oh yeah, and there’s that vampire thing that kind of made relationships difficult.

Pete met Mikey inside a Starbucks at 8pm. Pete was getting his fix of sugary caffeinated drinks and Mikey—well...

“Oh, dude, watch where you’re going,” he had said as Pete bumped into the boy, a textbook and binder crashing to the ground.

“Here, let me,” Pete swiftly picked the items up and handed them back to the boy, “I’m sorry.”

“‘s fine,” the boy nodded, adjusting his grip, “just try to be careful next time, you know?”

“I know,” Pete gave a smile and took his frappucino from the nice Starbucks lady, made a decision, and took a seat across from the boy.

He squinted at him. “What are you doing?”

Pete eyed the other’s face. He was tall and lanky and his glasses were slipping down his nose. Oh, and his jawline could probably cut Pete in half. He was immediately intrigued. “Hi. I’m sorry.”

“Hi,” he repeated, “it’s fine.”

“I’m Pete Wentz,” Pete blurted out, wrapping his hands around his frappuccino cup and taking a sip.

“Mikey Way, and how are you drinking that? It’s freezing outside,” he asked, opening up his binder and taking out a pencil case from his jacket pocket.

Pete opened his mouth to explain that he was a vampire and he didn’t really feel cold during the winter but he bit his tongue. “I, uh, I dunno, I can handle it I guess.”

Mikey shrugged, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose and taking out a highlighter and highlighting a sentence on his paper.

“What’re you doing?” Pete asked, tapping his finger against the part Mikey just highlighted.

“Studying,” Mikey answered, “culinary exam tomorrow.”

_College kid, huh?_ Pete thought, frowning. “Sounds difficult.”

“It’s not that bad,” Mikey tilted his head, tapping the end of his highlighter against his paper, thinking.

“Shouldn’t you be in your dorm studying?” Pete said, swirling his straw around.

Mikey shook his head. “Nah, my roommate's kind of annoying, I like the feel of coffeeshops.”

“Am I bothering you?” Pete asked, testing his luck. He watched Mikey’s eyes flick from his paper then up to Pete.

“Sort of,” Mikey answered truthfully, “but you seem fun to be around.”

“We should be friends,” Pete leaned over the table, grinning, “we’d be great friends, Mikeyway.”

Mikey smirked, flipping the page of some article with a picture of an obese chef (well that’s what it looked like from Pete’s view—he could be wrong). “You think?”

“Totally,” Pete snatched a napkin and reached into Mikey’s pencil case. He pulled out a black pen with “McDonald’s” scrawled across it. He raised his eyebrows at Mikey.

“Field trip,” he explained.

“Ah,” Pete nodded. He slid the napkin closer to himself and scribbled down his name and number then pushed the napkin to Mikey, who tucked it into the pencil case.

“Text me?”

“Sure,” Mikey shrugged, propping his face up with one hand and highlighting with the other. He didn’t meet Pete’s eyes.

“Alright,” Pete abruptly stood up and pushed his chair in and took his Starbucks cup to toss into the trash on his way out. “I’ll see you.”

“Wait, where you going?” Mikey perked up.

“Home,” Pete said, his grip tightening around his cup.

Mikey chewed on his bottom lip before replying. “Do you, uh, go to college around here?”

Pete froze. “I’m, um, kind of a dropout, if you will.”

Mikey squinted at him . “How old are you?”

Pete’s palms began to sweat. Fuck, how old was he when he was turned again? Was it 20? Let’s go with 20. “I’m 20.”

Mikey’s mouth formed an O shape. “Okay. I’ll see you, I guess.”

“Text me?” Pete repeated on his way out.

“Yeah,” Mikey blinked up at Pete, “I definitely will.”

-

Pete got his first text from Mikey at 4pm the following day.

**mikey:** _yo this is pete right_

_**pete:** sure_

_**mikey:** sure?_

_**pete:** …...i mean yea this is p dubbs._

_**mikey:** ????_

_**pete:** srry yea thsi is me the guy who made u drop ur shit evrywher_

_**mikey:** …_

_**mikey:** whats up_

_**pete:** nothin much hbu_

_**mikey:** chillin_

_**pete:** cool me2_

_**mikey:** hey_

_**pete:** yea?_

_**mikey:** can i ask u somthin_

_**pete:** go ahed_

_**mikey:** do u wanna come w me to a concert?_

_**pete:** hel yea wen and where_

_**mikey:** this saturday. i can pick u up_

_**pete:** cool wht time_

_**mikey:** concerts at 10 so i can get u at like 930_

 

Pete grinned. The sun set at 7pm next Saturday so everything would go as planned.

 

_**pete:** nice sounds gr8. i liv at the sunset apartments_

_**mikey:** ok_

_**mikey:** dude thx. my bro was supposd 2 go w me, but he couldnt make it and my friend’s in this band and i dont wana go alone_

_**pete:** thts chill mikes. ur friends in the band? wht r they called_

_**mikey:** pencey prep. they sound good_

_**pete:** o cool_

_**mikey:** yeah. i’ll see u then_

_**pete:** see u mikeyway_

_**mikey:** u too p dubbs_

-

Pete basically slept all Saturday. He woke up that day on the couch with a slice of pizza on his bare chest and his hand in his boxer shorts. He didn’t even have work that day so he spent the entire rest of the day watching Netflix movies and dumb shows on the Food Network channel.

He sucked the color out of twice as many apples than he would’ve; he wouldn’t want to get hungry during the concert—that would be kind of awkward.

When 9pm finally rolled around, Pete had spent an hour in the bathroom fixing his hair and he didn’t even know why he had done so in the first place. Mikey was just a friend, a nice friend who invited him to a concert. Pete didn’t even know if he like-liked him.

Ugh, _“like-liked”._

What is he? Ten years old?

Pete brushed through his hair one more time before his phone buzzed against his thigh. Mikey had texted he was here so Pete immediately rushed down to meet him.

“Hey, Mikeyway,” Pete slid into passenger seat and clicked his seatbelt.

“Hey Pete,” Mikey said, tapping his fingers against his steering wheel, “ready to go?”

“Ready when you are,” Pete ran a hand through his hair and stuffed his hands in his sweatshirt pockets.

Mikey shrugged and began to drive away from his apartment building. “Do you ever get cold? It’s like negative ten out there and you’re wearing a sweatshirt.”

Pete raked his eyes down Mikey’s body noticing he was wearing a long black coat, gray gloves and hat. “I guess not. I’m pretty warm.”

“You’re weird,” Mikey mumbled under his breath.

“Hey, your mom ever tell you to not pick strangers up on the side of the road?” Pete joked. He watched Mikey’s nose wrinkle as a grin spread across his face and Pete almost hated himself for thinking it was adorable.

Mikey sighed. “You’re not a stranger.”

“Please, Mikey,” Pete rolled his eyes, “we talked for like fifteen minutes.”

“What? You want me to kick you out of my car? We’re almost to the venue.”

“Oh, just my luck, Mikeyway. Too bad we’re almost there.”

“You’re a dork,” Mikey sighed, setting the car into park. He stepped out of the car and walked into the venue, Pete following closely behind.

“This venue’s nice,” Pete noted, staying close to Mikey.

“You’ve never been here?” Mikey raised his eyebrows.

Pete scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t get out that often.”

Mikey nodded, like he understood. He changed the subject. “They’re gonna play after this band, I’m pretty sure.”

“That’s cool, we can talk,” Pete suggested.

“About?”

“Life, yourself, college—whatever,” Pete shrugged.

“Well,” Mikey started, sticking his tongue in his cheek, “I haven't been in a relationship in over a year, I have a brother named Gerard who's dating the guy in the band we're about to see, and I'm a culinary major.”

Pete bit his lip. He already knew what was coming next.

“How about you?”

Pete took a deep breath, thinking about his answer so he could be as honest to Mikey without revealing his identity as a vampire as possible. “I don’t even remember when my last relationshop was and the longest relationship I've ever had with someone is two weeks, I-I don't have any siblings, and before I dropped out, I used to be a music major.” The siblings part was a lie. He didn't know if his brother and sister were still alive today and if they were, they for sure thought Pete was dead (he technically was, but that’s not the point).

“Two weeks was your longest relationship?” Mikey asked quietly. “How come?”

“I’ve never—” Pete thought about this. The vampire thing was something, but there was another thing that caused him to never have a long term relationship—he just couldn’t do that, commitment, you know? Or at least he’d never tried it. “—I’ve never really tried long term relationships. I don’t know if I like them that much.”

Mikey blinked up at him in awe. “Oh, wow, I—”

“You don’t have to say or feel anything right now, Mikeyway,” Pete interrupted, “I’m fine like this.”

“You’re not… lonely?” Mikey asked, cocking his head to the side. Pete would be lying if he said didn’t think he looked cute… dammit.

Pete sighed. Loneliness came with the vampire package, it’s something he was used to. “I don’t get lonely,” he lied through his teeth, staring at the rotting wooden floor of the venue.

“You have friends at least, right?”

“Duh,” Pete blurted out. He hung with some people from work that one time last year _and_ that girl asked him out on a date that one time (which he respectfully declined) in like 1995. “And, now I got you, Mikeyway.”

Mikey chose to stare at his shoes to hide his blush. “Yeah.”

Pete barked out a laugh and folded his arms as the stage lights dimmed.

“Oh, they’re coming on soon,” Mikey announced, standing on his tip-toes to get a better view. “I think you’ll like them.”

Shortly afterwards, a short man walked up to the stage and announced their band and burst into a fast song.

“That’s my friend, Frank,” Mikey pointed to the one singing, tapping his foot along to the music. “They’re not bad, huh?”

Pete shrugged. He’d seen better local stuff around here but Pencey Prep wasn’t necessarily _bad._ The frontman sure had tons of energy for such a small body. Pete chuckled to himself every time he thrashed around on stage.

When the set was finally over, he found Mikey towards the side of the wall, talking to the frontman with many hand gestures.

“Oh, hey, Frank, this is Pete,” Mikey gestured to Pete, who stepped closer and waved.

“Hey, Frank,” Pete gave a smile.

Frank looked from Pete to Mikey. “So are you guys—”

“Just friends,” Mikey blurted out, his face turning about 20 shades of red. Pete just let out a laugh that sounded a little too forced and raked a hand through his hair.

Frank scoffed but quickly changed the subject. “Gee couldn’t make it?”

Mikey frowned and shook his head. “Art show.”

“Aw, that sucks,” Frank frowned. Pete knew Frank was trying to hide it, but he could tell he was really upset.

Pete sympathized. “Maybe you’ll see him another time.”

“After the tour,” Frank sighed, “I miss your brother, Mikey.”

“Gross,” Mikey muttered. He whipped his head around to look at the clock on the other wall. “We should go. Don’t wanna stay out too late.”

Pete glanced at the clock as well. “Oh, yeah, um—”

“It was nice meeting you,” Frank offered his hand out which Pete gladly shook.

“You too,” Pete smiled and stuck his hands in his pocket.

Mikey nodded at Frank one last time before placing his hand on Pete’s back, leading him out the venue.

“That was fun,” Pete jumped up and down a little once they were outside.

“Oh, gross,” Mikey mumbled, having not moved an inch from the venue door.

“What?”

“It’s snowing,” Mikey said, flinching when a snowflake landed on his cheek.

Pete laughed. “Afraid of snow?”

“No, I just don’t like it, okay? It’s cold and gross,” Mikey shifted around, creating a small pile of snow on the sidewalk with his shoe.

“Aw, Mikey, come on, don’t you like snow angels?”

“I guess,” Mikey answered, blinking away another snowflake, “but I don’t like staying in the snow for too long.”

“That’s too bad,” Pete leaped forward and gripped Mikey’s hand, “now come on, I’m high on adrenaline.” He pulled Mikey across the street to a snow layered field with a snow covered water fountain and bench.

“Pete, what the hell?” Mikey stuttered, the entire time there. He jogged clumsily as Pete dragged him to the field and yanked him down to the ground.

Mikey screamed, scrambling onto his hands and knees. “Pete!”

Pete hollered with laughter, rolling onto his back, snowflakes scattered in his dark hair.

“I hate you,” Mikey groaned, shoving Pete’s shoulder and giving up and laying on his back next to Pete. He scooted closer so they were shoulder to shoulder. “Did you drag me across the street to make snow angels.”

“Nah, dude, look at the stars,” Pete said in awe. He pointed his finger to the sky as the sky twinkled brightly. “Oh, man that’s the Big Dipper.”

Mikey squinted then polished his glasses on his jacket. “I’ve never been able to see the Big Dipper.”

Pete sighed, rolling his eyes. He grabbed Mikey’s gloved hand again. “Point out your finger.”

Mikey did as he was told. “Okay.”

Pete’s hand slipped down to Mikey’s wrist as he traced the Big Dipper with Mikey’s hand. “Do you see it?”

Mikey swallowed, his voice small. “Do it again.”

Pete turned his head, his hand still wrapped around Mikey’s wrist. “Do what?”

“Trace the stars,” Mikey didn’t meet eyes with Pete, quite focused on his sky.

Pete lifted Mikey’s hand up again and traced the Big Dipper. “There’s the handle,” he explained, “and that’s the dipping thing.”

Mikey chuckled. “Dipping thing.”

“Shut up,” Pete mumbled, “do you see it now.”

“Yeah,” Mikey blinked a couple times, “I actually do now.”

“That’s good,” Pete shifted onto his side, wincing as snow fell on his cheek.

Mikey turned onto his side and faced Pete, their noses nearly touching. “No one’s ever pointed it out to me before.”

Pete swallowed and his face felt hot when he realized how close their faces were. “You’re lucky I’m here, then,” he said quietly. When did his voice get so small? Why did his throat feel like it was closing up?

Mikey leaned forward and kissed Pete.

Pete’s eyes widened at first but he slowly melted into the kiss, the snow on the ground almost numbing the side of his face. Neither of them seemed to care.

Mikey’s eyes fluttered open and he pulled away, sitting himself up. He settled on his knees.

Pete sat himself up on his knees as well, staring at Mikey.

“I’m sorry, Pete,” Mikey turned pink, “I know you don’t do relationships and oh God, I don’t know why I did that, I’m—”

Pete leaned forward to set his hand on top of Mikey’s. “Hey, it’s okay.”

Mikey took a deep breath. “Can we forget about this?”

Pete frowned, taking in Mikey’s embarrassed expression. He realized right there and then that Pete had slowly developed a little crush on his friend and he wouldn’t all around mind if he were in the relationship with him. But how did this… work? “I—Mikey, I like you.”

Mikey tilted his head again.

“I like you a lot. I don’t know much about relationships. All I know is messy hookups in bars and one night stands,” _I’ve never been in one since 1972,_ he wanted to add, “can you teach me?”

Mikey’s grey hat and coat were absolutely covered in white specks of snow. He didn’t seem to care as he grinned a full set of teeth and grasped both of Pete’s hands in his. “I’d love to.”


End file.
